Dubbed, the Italian version of When Harry Met Sally, Finding Forever: A 1970s Love Story, is capturing the hearts of readers across the world.
Debut novelist Anthony Sciarratta tells the story of a neurotic Italian American man who is inspired to write a book about his love affair with a quirky Broadway actress. The story takes place in 1970s New York City in the former Italian enclave of Astoria.
Finding Forever was originally self-published on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing by Sciarratta. It took over two years for this Italian love story to find a home, facing over twenty-five rejections because of the setting and story centering around Italians in the 70s.
After a surge in sales from a huge Facebook marketing campaign, two Italian Americans from Queens came along to make Finding Forever available wherever books are sold.
Anthony Ziccardi who was born and raised in Middle Village, New York, attended Our Lady of Hope middle school, eventually moved on into the world of publishing leading the helm at Post Hill Press. Many years later, author Anthony Sciarratta, also born and raised in Middle Village, attended Our Lady of Hope, helping him pave the way to become an author. Emi Battaglia, born and raised in Sunnyside, grew up with the hopes of joining the literary world and entered as a successful publicist, working with many of the most successful authors in America.
What is the common denominator that brought these three together? Their Italian heritage.
Ziccardi and Sciarratta ironically both had the same fourth grade teacher, Mr. Michael McHugh. Their childhood homes were not even a block apart, yet they somehow had never met. The two Italian families never interacted before, but all roads eventually lead to the same place.
In comes Battaglia, who meets a young and aspiring author with a self-published novel about Italians in Queens around the time that she grew up. Taking a chance on Sciarratta, Battaglia worked with him for around two years to find a home for his novel. Sciarratta’s old soul and old school mentality didn’t fit with many modern publishing companies, and 70s NYC is typically not a regular setting for novels.
It began with an accidental email, mistaking Sciarratta for Ziccardi, and that’s when everything started to come together. Fate and culture brought these three Italian Americans from Queens together. Now, Finding Forever, a story about the lives of Italians in 1970s Queens, has hit the shelves in bookstores across America.
A book that was written by Italians, about Italians, and for Italians. How much more Italian could it get?
For more information, visit Anthony Sciaretta’s official website: anthonysciarratta.com
Buy the Book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
Finding Forever Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/findingforevernovel/
Anthony Sciarratta’s official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAnthonySciarratta
